Timeless and Terrible Desire: Confronting the Eternal, the Malevolent, and the Political in Adaptations of Alfred Jarry’s Ubu Roi
Timeless and Terrible Desire: Confronting the Eternal, the Malevolent, and the Political in Adaptations of Alfred Jarry’s Ubu Roi

Summary/Abstract: In addition to providing a platform for critical commentary on contemporary sociopolitical issues, adaptations of classic dramas can be used to confront negative elements of the human experience which transcend progress. Alfred Jarry’s Ubu Roi is one text that has inspired many such adaptations. Whether deployed in post-apartheid South Africa or in the midst of the 2016 United States presidential election, the text can be read as a naming of and response to the forces of greed, power hunger, and malice, a play that simultaneously acknowledges the eternality of struggling and demonstrates a mode of defiance.

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